by Riley Murphy
His favorite book…
That sent her off in another thought direction while she tried to understand the ‘why’ to that? Didn’t he believe in a happy ending?
“I thought I’d find you here.”
Lacy heard David as he came into the room. She swiveled around on her stool and waved. “Hi. Gee, you’re back much earlier than I thought. Hope everything went the way you wanted it to.”
“Not really.” He got halfway to her when there was a commotion at that door. Lacy stood at the same time David turned. Leaning to see around him she realized it was Andrew. The guy had the door cracked open and looked to be playing footsy with something as he called, “I’m sorry, Mr. Hollan, but she bit one of the kitchen staff and then defecated on Francesca’s favorite mat.”
Lacy was in the middle of processing this news when a tiny little fluff ball shot through the door and came at her in series of graduating crazy circles. Running and barking all the while.
“It’s okay. Thanks, Andrew. Oh, and tell Franny I’m sorry. We’ll buy her a new rug.”
“But what about your meeting, sir?”
“I’ll work something out.”
Lacy waited for the mini Tasmanian devil to slow down before she bent to pet it. Her hand was no more than a few inches away when devil-dog lunged at it. All she heard was the snap of teeth as they clacked together.
“Phyllis, no!”
She stood straight up. “You named your dog Phyllis?”
David rushed forward and scooped the squirming pooch up. “She looks like one, no?
Lacy frowned and shook her head. “Since I don’t know anyone by that name, I really can’t compare.”
She was astounded that David gently pet the dog as he spoke softly to it, “Settle down. There, that’s better.”
“No, it’s not. You’re rewarding her bad behavior.” When he scowled, she added, “And in this instance the reward is not the punishment.” She tried to pet the darn thing but the pooch turned to snap at her again. “Damn, she’s a vicious little thing, isn’t she?”
“It’s—” He turned aside so the dog wasn’t within biting distance of her. “No! Be a good girl.”
Lacy was thinking like that was going to work when David looked up.
“Sorry, she’s still learning her manners.”
She scowled and tried again to make friends as she reached out. “She’s too old to be behaving this way. Ow!”
“Quit sticking your hand in her face and she won’t nip you.”
Lacy gasped. “That’s your answer to an aggressive dog?”
“She has all her shots.” It was as if he were dismissing her when he lifted Phyllis up to his cheek to settle her. Miraculously the dog calmed right down.
“Oh, brother. You shouldn’t be giving her attention like that. She needs to learn her place in the household.”
He wasn’t dismissing her now. He stared right at her. “She’s not the only one.”
Nice. Glaring back, she insisted, “The dog needs some boundaries set. She needs to see the lines so she doesn’t cross them.”
“Again.”
She chose to ignore his annoying hiked brow. “Seriously, David. You think you’re helping the poor thing, but all you’re doing is enabling it to continue with bad behavior. Dangerous behavior.”
“I appreciate you’re a vet and all, but my little princess has had a bad life.”
“A bad life isn’t going to fly when you find yourself in a courtroom being sued over her causing injury.” The dog curled up its top lip and showed teeth. Prompting Lacy to add, “You call that a princess and me a brat?”
He walked over to the stool that she’d vacated and sat down. “Phyllis was a rescue and it isn’t like I’m not trying with her. I’ve taken her to one doggie daycare after another. She’s been to every school within twenty-five miles of here. When those options dried up I was forced to take her to the more rural ones. And yet I’m continually told the same thing. She’s untrainable.”
“That’s ridiculous. No trainer worth their salt would tell you…” She looked at the snarling dog and then back up at him when it finally hit her. “This? Her? She’s the Phyllis you’ve been picking up and dropping off all over the state?”
He hugged the bit of fluff, who Lacy was sure at the moment was giving her the na-na-na-na eyes, and said, “Yes. Not all the trainers said that she was untrainable, by the way, but the ones who didn’t had questionable methods in mind to correct her behavior.”
“Questionable as in strict?”
He seemed so annoyed at the prospect she softened her voice.
“Sometimes it’s better for an owner to step away when they’re too emotionally involved.”
“I know that. I—” He put Phyllis down. “I’ve never owned an animal before and I never thought I would. I wouldn’t have if...”
Lacy felt for him. Becoming an unexpected parent tugged on heartstrings a person didn’t even know they had. She ignored Phyllis’s yapping and asked, “How did you come to rescue her?”
“I looked out my office window. Don’t think I haven’t thought of that fateful moment a thousand times.” When she continued to stare at him, he added, “It’s a long story.”
Crossing her arms she inclined her head. “I have time.”
“I don’t. I have to find someone to look after the beast while I go meet Basel. For a big guy he’s scared shitless of her.”
“I’ll take care of her while you’re gone.” He looked hopeful, so vulnerable and so unlike her normal David, that she didn’t want him to leave right away. “But before you go, you have to tell me how you got her.”
“I can’t ask you to do this. She’s a little menace.”
“I’m a vet. I’ve looked after worse.” Not really, as most of the animals she’d been in contact with were sedated, but he didn’t need to know that. “The story? I know there is one.”
David put Phyllis down and readjusted himself on the stool. “All right. I’ll tell you. A couple of months ago Miguel and Tia, they were husband and wife and also my gardeners. They were out trimming the hawthorns when they began arguing. I heard them and when the yelling started I went to the window. That’s when I saw Miguel kick Phyllis—only she was called Coco then. He booted her hard. I couldn’t have that so I went out there.”
Lacy nodded. Damn straight. “You took their dog away.”
“No. When I got out there I saw Miguel push his wife. He may as well have kicked her, so I fired him on the spot.”
“Amen to that. I bet Tia was happy.”
“No, she wasn’t. After he left she started screaming at me. I’m not exactly sure what she was saying as I don’t speak Spanish, but I was pretty sure after she handed me the dog and made like she was washing her hands of both of us. She called me a jackal. Then she left.”
Lacy had a fairly good visual. She tried not to laugh as she looked down at the dog playing a vicious tug-of-war with the hem of her pants, and frowned. “Are you sure it was you she was calling the jackal?”
David stood and released a heavy sigh. “Doesn’t matter. I wound up with no gardeners and a dog that liked me exclusively, and even then that’s only some of the time. I felt bad, though. Phyllis was a commodity to them. They were using her to find moles. Who does that in this day and age?” Lacy didn’t even think David was aware of the fact he was flipping through her sketches as he went on. “Andrew said they took care of her needs, like her shots and stuff, but they didn’t treat her like a pet. She was kind of wild. In the beginning she wasn’t too bad, but then she started acting out. I figured even though they weren’t great to her she missed them or something.” He stopped being nosey and turned. “Surely you understand why I couldn’t return her.”
“Of course.” By now Phyllis was in kill mode and if Lacy didn’t put the kibosh on it, her pant hem would be ripped. Bending low, she held up her hand. “Basta!”
Immediately Phyllis stopped pulling and let go of the material before sh
e sat down. Lacy nodded and when she straightened she saw David’s amazement. “What? She understands.”
“I never thought of swearing at her.”
Lacy blinked and then laughed. “I didn’t swear at her. I told her ‘enough’ in Spanish. Isn’t English her second language?”
David gave her a funny look. One that warmed her up and made her breathless all at once. “I suppose it is.”
She was feeling scattered again so to cover this, she walked around him and pretended to straighten up her sketches on the easel. “No worries. I’ll take good care of her.”
“I don’t doubt that.” He curled down and whispered in her ear, “Right now I’m wishing I didn’t have a meeting to attend, so I could take care of you.”
The shiver those words caused to waterfall down her spine made her visibly tremble. Did he see it? “David…”
“What?” He moved a wisp of her hair off her shoulder and bent to kiss her there. The effect was she trembled harder as he said, “I want you to wear your collar tonight with one of those little black dresses you own. No going commando.” This time he bit her shoulder. “Understood? If I decide to play with you at the party, I want to be able to take things off you and the dress itself might be a bit of overkill.”
Closing her eyes, she leaned back into him. “Do we have to go?”
He pressed his lips against the naked skin of her shoulder again. Only this time he used his tongue and gave her a little lick before he asked, “Don’t you like parties?”
She pressed her temple into the side of his jaw and moved her head up and down enjoying the scratch of his stubble against her skin. “No. In fact I wish we weren’t going to my brother’s party next week.”
“Don’t say that.” He brought his arm around and hugged her up to him tight. “I promise to make it fun.”
“Which one?”
“Both,” he said, before he kissed her one last time and then left. She was glad he had because she didn’t want to argue with him and if he insisted that he could make her brother’s party fun, she’d have to disagree. Those occasions were never, ever, fun.
***
David waited for Lacy to come downstairs. By all accounts from Andrew she was a virtual dog whisperer, as Phyllis was behaving herself now. David wasn’t going to hold his breath though. Andrew had been known to embellish details, so David was prepared to judge for himself. He did have to admit, the fact that Lacy hadn’t been standing at the front door ready to shove the little beast in his arms the moment he got home from his meeting, was an encouraging sign.
He heard the click of heels—god how he loved that sound against marble—and went to the bottom of the stairs to wait for her. When she appeared at the top, she looked a little nervous. Nervous was good, he decided as he checked out her legs. She had great legs. Taut and toned. The perfect complement to a beautiful pair of strappy shoes. His gaze travelled from her suede pumps, up the sexy length until he reached the tight-fitting fabric hugging her, and scanned that all the way up to her chest. The dress she’d chosen cupped and lifted her breasts beautifully. He was going to have a hard time keeping his gaze off of that kind of cleavage. His eyes remained glued there as he followed her descent until a familiar furry face popped into his line of vision and he jerked back. It was the pooch. Damn, he hadn’t even noticed she was carrying her.
“Did you look your fill?”
He ignored her sarcasm as she reached the bottom and, answered truthfully, “No. Little princess got in the way.”
“Oh, poor baby.”
He heard the laughter in her voice and couldn’t help himself. “You’re beautiful. Do you want to know what my favorite feature of yours is?”
She wasn’t laughing now. “Yes.”
“Your smile.”
That answer seemed to make her uncomfortable. He waited for her to put Phyllis down, but before he could ask why she was bothered, he got distracted watching how Lacy handled the fur ball. She didn’t say anything, executing some kind of hand signal, and lo-and-behold, the pooch sat obediently at her feet.
“I don’t believe this. How did you get her to calm down? I hope you didn’t prescribe her valium. I’m not good with that.”
“Of course not. At least not without your permission.”
He was slightly relieved and a whole lot curious as he took the wrap Lacy handed to him and helped her to put it on. “What’s the secret?”
“No secret. Phil responds better to hand signals…at least until he learns English.”
David’s hands stilled in the task of adjusting her wrap as he stared down at the top of her head. “He?”
“Yep. All that snarling and bluster? The dude was dominating the other people in the household he’d figured you had already dominated.” She turned to brightly smile up at him. “As you know, he so dominated you.”
David stepped back and blinked. “No way.”
She quickly nodded. “I guess you couldn’t see—well, what’s left of his ‘boy’ parts as they had him neutered, but she’s a he, trust me.”
David looked down at his princess. Could it be true? He scooped the dog up and searched for a sign. Anything that would tell him that Lacy was mistaken, but he found nothing. Except for a better looking canine now that it was determined to be male. He thought about all the daycares, all the trainers. The growling, the spoiling. The times he kissed this guy on the forehead… “You sneaky little fucker. It’s doggie daycare for you tomorrow.”
“No, it’s not. This wasn’t his fault. It was all yours and if you stick him in one of those places I’ll be forced to believe that you have double standards.”
“I do have double standards.”
She tied her wrap and sniffed, “I’m going to forget you said that.”
He put Phil down and mimicked the hand signal she had made, still amazed that it actually worked. Then he stepped closer to her and tipped her chin until she was forced to look at him. “Don’t. Don’t ever forget and confuse things between us. I do have double standards. And with every standard I have, double or otherwise? They’re all high. Very, very high.”
When she nodded, he stepped back. “Good. Now let’s go and have the fun I promised you.”
Chapter Thirteen
David made sure Lacy had a great time. He gave her his undivided attention and was very selective about the people they mingled with. The only reason he’d brought her here tonight was because James Tucker threw some of the best parties around. The oil mogul made it a rule to break rules, as he defied every city ordinance and set up backroom gambling. David wasn’t much of a risk taker, but he knew Lacy well enough to know she’d enjoy it.
“I’m going to bet all of it on red.”
He leaned back and checked out her ass as she bent over the roulette table. With one leg up and the rest of her stretched out as she pushed the chips to the red square, he was tempted to slide his hand up her dress and make her moan.
“You need a room?”
He refocused and grinned. “Hi, Jamie. Thanks, but no. Great party.”
“It’ll be better later. You and your lady friend care to stay?”
David liked Jamie. He liked him a lot, but right now he was feeling an unaccountable urge to rip the handsome bastard apart, as he’d given Lacy a too-long once over. “No, not tonight.”
“Is she a new sub?”
He really wished his host would look at him instead of at Lacy’s legs as she stretched to place another bet. “She’s mine.”
“Oh.” He turned to David and grinned. “Too bad. On another note, I had planned on a few of us guys going out to the patio for a nightcap and shoot the breeze like old times—I got my hands on some fine Cubans—but we’ll have to wait for a bit as it’s raining at the moment.”
That’s exactly what David needed to hear. All night he’d been plagued by thoughts of Lacy and images of her as she was last night. Inundated with strobe-like visuals of her sucking his cock, begging and crying for it and then later spraw
led on his lap as he got her off more than once. All night he’d been dealing with an aching hard-on, restless to get home because now that he knew she wanted to be his special girl, he was ready to commit to her in the most intimate way possible. But he’d held off. She was having so much fun at the tables. Gambling a tidy sum away for the charity of her choice and using his money to boot, and still he’d been prepared to let her do it until Jamie mentioned the game changer.
“Thanks, guy.” He left Jamie and told Lacy it was time to cash in.
“But why? I’m winning.”
“That’s the best time to call it a night.”
He waited for her to give her information and turn in her chips. “Done?”
“Yes. That was so much fun! I won twelve thousand for the elephant sanctuary.”
He took her by the hand, leading her out of the backroom and through the crowd in the great room, saying, “Correction. You won seven grand and I donated five to get you started.”
“Oh, right. But you said it was okay.”
“It is. But I don’t want you thinking gambling is a good career choice or anything like that.”
“David. David? Are we going outside? Someone said it was raining.”
He pulled her through the French doors. “You love the rain, remember?”
“I do, but the party isn’t over. I may want to gamble some more. I can’t get wet now.”
“Wanna bet?” He walked with her across the interlocking brick, pointing out the uneven pavement. “Watch your step and hurry.”
“Where are we going?”
David took a look around and when he spotted the alcove he headed right for it. It wasn’t raining very hard. Drizzling more like it. So he didn’t rush. When he got to the semi-secluded spot he answered, “Right here.”
